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Archives for November 2022

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Boyd & Metcalf in Boyd Meets Girl 

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by Emmy Hensley

“Songs of Love & Despair is maybe a bit of a misnomer in that it’s much more about love than despair,” said Rupert Boyd regarding his musical duo’s latest album. The release from Boyd Meets Girl answered the all-encompassing.question of “What made us feel better?” — which cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd were frequently mindful of throughout the creation of their pandemic project.

Many of the pieces featured on the album, ranging from Bach to Beyoncé, will be performed on Saturday, November 12 at 7:30 pm at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Campus. The concert is part of the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s International Series. [Read more…]

“Heaven and Earth” at the Church of the Covenant (Oct. 8)

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by Mike Telin

Wonderful things can happen when two accomplished ensembles collaborate. Such was the case on Saturday, October 8, when the Cleveland Chamber Choir and the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra joined forces at the Church of the Covenant in a program titled “Heaven and Earth.” The result was spectacular.

The program featured Gwyneth Walker’s The Golden Harp (1999) and Beethoven’s Mass in C. At first glance the two works appear to have little in common: Walker sets the words of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore and Beethoven sets the text of the Latin mass. Still, the colorful, expressive music in each provides a directness to the text that takes the listener on an emotional journey.

[Read more…]

DIARY: Thursday, November 3, 2022

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by Jarrett Hoffman

IN THIS EDITION:

•Tonight: BW Opera presents The Coronation of Poppea

•Competition and job listings: one-minute works for clarinetist-vocalist Kristen Mather de Andrade (pictured), and openings at the Beck Center for the Arts

•Almanac: reflecting on the music of Isang Yun

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight at 7:30 pm, BW Opera presents Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), in what is billed as a minimalist production set in the present day. Another modern twist: the production “leans into the code of ethics, morals, and politics featured in movies such as the Godfather films, which reference characters and scenarios from this opera.”

The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles, and the performance will be with chamber orchestra. It takes place at the Helen Theater at Playhouse Square. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Cleveland Pops kicks off season with tenor Daniel Emmet 

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by Mike Telin

If you’re a fan of talent shows, you probably remember Daniel Emmet as the opera singer who accepted the “impossible challenge” delivered by Simon Cowell during Season 13 of America’s Got Talent.

Since those appearances in 2018, Emmet has used his vocal prowess to carve out a notable career for himself. His single “True Reflection” debuted at #1 on the iTunes Classical Chart and he’s headlined his own show, “All That I Am,” at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas — his list of musical accomplishments goes on.

The one thing Emmet has never done is perform in Cleveland. That will change on  Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 pm when he joins Carl Topilow and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra for their season-opening concert at Severance Music Center. Tickets are  available online.

Answering his phone in Las Vegas, the city he has called home since he was in his mid-teens, Emmet’s enthusiasm about Saturday’s concert was palpable. [Read more…]

DIARY: Wednesday, November 2, 2022

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by Daniel Hathaway

IN THIS EDITION:

. Visiting cellist and saxophonist

. Piano Cleveland at Phunkenship

. An Austrian, a Russian and a Greek to memorialize

TODAY’S EVENTS: 

12:00 pm – Trinity Brownbag Concert. John Waltz, principal cello, Los Angeles Opera & Elizabeth DeMio, piano. Beethoven and Brahms cello sonatas. Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Freewill offering.

7:30 pm – CIM Faculty Recital, featuring Steven Banks, saxophone, with Xak Bjerken, piano. Camille Saint-Saëns’ Oboe Sonata, Op. 166, Carlos Simon’s hear them (2020) & Sergei Rachmninoff’s Cello Sonata, Op. 19. Mixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland. Free seating passes required. Click here to reserve. The performance will be live streamed here [Read more…]

No Exit to host Genkin Philharmonic

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by Mike Telin

No Exit’s season-opening trifecta of concerts concludes on Friday, November 4 at 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop with the Genkin Philharmonic, a ten-piece electroacoustic chamber ensemble based in Buffalo. The concert is free.

Founded in 2000 by trumpeter Jon Nelson, the group was originally conceived as a class at the University at Buffalo — a class that would provide an opportunity to study and perform contemporary music that draws on multiple genres as well as improvisation. Today the Genkin draws its membership from a pool of musicians including UB Faculty and alumni, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Hallwalls Arts Collective.

What makes the Genkin Philharmonic distinct from most contemporary music ensembles is what they play. Their repertoire includes arrangements that preserve the technical virtuosity of music by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, the creation of original works by living composers, and arrangements of works from the classical canon that remain faithful to the composers’ scores.

“We’re kind of different from everything else out there,” Nelson said during a telephone conversation. [Read more…]

Vijay Iyer Trio at Youngstown State [CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS]

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by Mike Telin

Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer enjoys a multifaceted musical career. The list of people with whom he has collaborated reads like a who’s who in the world of jazz and classical music. His list of awards includes a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and a United States Artist Fellowship.

Iyer has released twenty-four albums of his music, most recently UnEasy (ECM Records, 2021), a trio session with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh, and was named the 2022 Jazz Pianist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association.

On Friday November 4 at 7:30 pm the Vijay Iyer Trio will perform in the Chestnut Room of Youngstown State University’s  Kilcawley Center as part of YSU’s Pipino Performing Art Series. Click here for tickets.

I caught up with Iyer by telephone and began by asking him about his latest Trio recording, the first since 2015. [Read more…]

Les Délices: “Winds of Change” (Oct. 23)

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by Stephanie Manning

Rarely is there a program title as accurate as Les Délices’ “Winds of Change.” The program embraced the new and different in a variety of ways — referencing both specific events, like the French and Haitian revolutions, and broader ideas, like advocacy for composers of color. Originally presented as an online offering last season, on October 23 the concert proved it was certainly worth hearing live.

Sunday afternoon also featured a first-time venue for the ensemble: West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River. Though visually unassuming, the space delivered fantastic acoustics for small instrumentations. In the Quartet for flute and strings by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. Georges, the gossamer sounds of Emi Ferguson’s flute resonated perfectly above a three-piece string accompaniment. Violinist Shelby Yamin, violist Allison Monroe, and cellist Rebecca Reed contributed a great sense of energy to the piece as they supported Ferguson.

[Read more…]

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